Yum, I might invite myself!
Yes, lemons and limes are high. Haven’t bought any this summer. Save $ by zesting them and air drying the zest. Store in an old spice jar. Same for other citrus fruits.
3 lbs. of yellow onions used to be about $1.88 but this spring they jumped to about $2.37-$2.68. What’s that, about 7 onions? So, about 35 cents each. I’m cheap so buy yellow onions. Once in a great while, I’ll buy a sweet one if there’s a fantastic sale. Toward the end of month, I’ll roast halved onions with homegrown rosemary and roasted carrots as sides for a beef roast. Or onion, celery, carrots and canned tomatoes for a beef pot roast. Save pickle juice and add a cup or so to the crock pot with an onion and a pork roast. No, it doesn’t taste like pickles.
Boneless pork loin was on sale for $1.49/lb. so bought three whole ones. Portioned into freezer baggies, of course. We’ve been having a part of one this week with the last jar of home canned chutney made from free dropped pears (yes, naysayers as sides had cooked greens, a tossed salad one night and a cucumber salad the next, and fresh strawberries for dessert. Used up the last little bit of some garlic pickle juice with red peppers in that cucumber salad). Sometimes with pork chops, instead of carby apples, I’ll slice a .50 cent chayote squash and season like sautéed cinnamon apples to top the meat. Chayote lasts nearly all month in the fridge. Why are they sold in individual plastic pouches?
Our new fav dinner is almandine tilapia with carrot soufflé and cucumber salad (gotta have cucumber salad in the summer). $1.75 per plate!
About once a month, I’ll open a can of beets for a salad and the onion helps freshen the canned product. Cabbage will last pretty much all month so that’s coleslaw (with a bit of long lasting carrot and onion) and leftover beef roast or pulled pork/bbq.
Despite what some folks here think, we don’t eat out of cans much. We’ll have canned green beans sometimes but hubby doesn’t like them. Canned corn is good but can’t do much of that high carb anymore. Whoever invented canned carrots and potatoes should be taken to the desert never to return. I do keep canned tomatoes stocked. Canned pumpkin on sale after the holidays comes in handy throughout the year for soups and desserts. During the fall, I’ll buy every variety of fresh winter squash to be used first as decoration and then cooked down for squash soup and into the freezer.
About the only frozen veggies I buy are those big bags of carrot/broc/cauli but only use those in soups or something because we don’t like the rubbery texture. I will use frozen spinach for casserole type dishes in the winter and it’s good to stuff in a chicken breast with scratch made pub cheese. The frozen bags of mixed fruit contain hard bitter unripe melons and peaches, ugh. There’s a bag of strawberries and a mixed berry bag in the freezer but again it’s the mushy texture thing so we usually go with fresh berries. Fresh strawberries are one thing I’ll splurge on. Three or four strawberries in a bowl of yogurt for breakfast, yum.
Ok, the naysayers got me, I haven’t bought a watermelon in 3 years. Last time, after two days on the counter, it had suddenly gone bad and upon closer inspection, someone had poked dozens of tiny holes all over it. Yikes! Lesson learned, inspect, inspect, inspect and wash.
BTW, I keep large freezer containers to drain canned veggies for “free” veg broth. Also, boil down bones and the Thanksgiving turkey carcass for “free” meat broths and freeze the Christmas ham bone and fat for the bean pot (blah, maybe only one pot of carby beans this coming winter). Don’t save drained beet juice unless you want pink soup. However, beet juice can be the liquid in a chocolate cake.
Wow, Hass avocadoes here are $1.50 - $1.74 each. The smaller tastier Hass are more expensive than the watery bland California kind. Shelf life is iffy because you never know just how ripe they are when you buy them. Some start turning brown the minute they get a bit soft while others stay good until quite mushy. YMMV, but on my counter, they go bad (like bananas) within 3-4 days but can last two weeks or so in the fridge. Last month, another customer told me she was off avocadoes because the last ones she bought were already bad.
Fresh asparagus gets eaten in the first week. Roasted or with from scratch hollandaise sauce. Hubby swears he doesn’t like hollandaise until he forgets that he doesn’t. We’ve been married mumble years and it’s always the same. Usually, I’ll save the hard ends and chew on them with “all mine!” sauce. Weird, hollandaise sauce is considered one of the difficult sauces but it’s a no brainer.
Someone up thread mentioned tomatoes. Fresh tomatoes are always a must but don’t know what’s going on with vine ripe tomatoes. I hadn’t bought the vine ripe ones for decades but, this spring, they’ve been cheaper than Romas so I fell victim to trying them. Bought them twice (once at HEB and once at Walmart) and both times they went bad in a couple of days on the counter so quick into the fridge and a rush to use them. Neighbor, who always keeps tomatoes (and everything, including bananas) in the fridge, said the same of hers. Both of us learned our lesson. Never again. It’s Romas or nothing. Romas were 88 cents but suddenly doubled in price. Thankfully, they’re starting to come down. WTH, the past couple months they’re being sold in plastic bags!
Walmart isn’t getting loose mushrooms anymore, either. Why aren’t the environuts screaming about this?
I don’t like buying veggies in packages if I can get them unpackaged. That said, I do buy those red/yellow/orange bell pepper packages for $3.98 (about $1.33 each pepper). For some reason, they’re cheaper packaged and they last nearly all month whereas the unpackaged green bell peppers (60 cents each?) only last two weeks. Yeah, probably a chemical spray. Same neighbor learned this, too. Hubby, who is on insulin, can grab them and other (home chopped) veggie sticks as a quick snack and is happy. As the month progresses and the peppers start looking sad, it’s time for a stir fry or stuffed peppers. Too tight a budget to let anything get old so produce is closely watched.
Another snack hubby likes is the Walmart can of mixed nuts. They’re the cheapest nuts around. Medallion brand in a white can for $2 for 8 oz. I’ll steal some to toss into an Asian stir fry occasionally.
I’ve had to adjust our foods this year now that he’s diabetic. The budget has taken a hit with no cheap rice, dried beans and flour. Mexican and Chinese dinners go without rice and tortillas/wraps. It took a while to convince him about carbs but the numbers don’t lie. Sure, there’s still some rice and flour in the freezer but I cleared out 90% of the bad food and carted it over to the neighbor (who in turn brought over some clearance cake mix and frosting!... no, thanks). Sometimes I have to have a potato chip fix so buy a small bag of cheap potatoes which lasts forever and fry them rather than expensive processed store bought chips. Thankfully, hubby’s not a chip guy but misses carby potato salad. Have been substituting fresh cauliflower (expensive at around $3) made like potato salad for him which he’s ok with but it’s not the same as his smooth, no chunks, potato salad.
He used to be a big milk drinker. The other day, after about 4 months of no milk, he thought he needed a fix. Drank a couple of glasses over a couple weeks’ time and that was it. The jug expired two days ago so will turn it into yogurt.
Store bought Greek yogurt is about $4 for 32 oz. Homemade yogurt is <half that. No brainer recipe is nothing but milk and a starter. The starter is a small container of plain yogurt with live cultures divided up into ice cube trays. One cube of thawed starter to a quart of milk to make a yogurt drink. Add a couple tablespoons of powdered milk for regular yogurt. Add cream for sinfully good stuff. Stir in jello or koolaid powder for fruity flavors or extract flavors or cinnamon or nuts, etc. Plain regular yogurt can be used as cream, sour cream or cream cheese in cooking. Drain regular yogurt to get Greek yogurt or a cream cheese substitute which can be used just like cream cheese in cheese cake. Draining the whey off reduces the carb count by around half and it has way fewer calories than sour cream or cream cheese. To make more batches, “chain” off (save) a couple of tablespoons of the first batch to use as the starter for the second batch. It can be chained 3-4 times but gets looser each time. Of course, homemade yogurt doesn’t have all the preservatives as store bought so doesn’t last as long. Store bought will easily last the month.
Gonna make some guac dip. Onion powder, chopped Roma tomato, lime juice, maybe a bit of lemon, lemon-pepper and some garlic salt and maybe garlic powder.
I got regular avocados but the fancy ones are either 88 cents or 99 cents at Sprout’s this week (thru next Tuesday).
I need a big more Kikkoman’s - it’s not as sweet as I thought it would be - I doubled the amount of mandarin oranges, about 4 big rings of pineapple slices (chopped) plus ALL of the juice from the can of pineapple and both cups of mandarin oranges and a full bottle of Kikkoman’s Sweet and Sour. A little shredded carrot and red and orange pepper, sliced and diced (just a bit - about 1/4 each).
Had to break my 5lb bag of rice. Now I only have 100lbs on back up. (well, plus the 4 or 4.5 lbs left in that bag). So I’ll be shopping for another 5lb bag.
I used WM chicken nuggets with onion powder, garlic salt, a little salt, a little pepper, lemon pepper, paprika and cayenne pepper sprinkled on them. Baked them @ 425 for 12+ minutes and put into the sauce. It’s not bad at all. Could be just a tad sweet. I may add some white sugar. That will be cheap.
In a minute I’ll post you my weird asparagus recipe. It was only about 6-7 years ago that I finally had asparagus. It was grill-roasted and drizzled with butter. I don’t get steak like I did 6+ years ago but for awhile it replaced my beloved steamed broccoli with butter as a steak side. Even now, I’ll take grilled asparagu (MUST be grilled) with butter.
Snap off the white bamboo-type ends of asparagus and rinse in cold water. I sometimes let them soak for about 10 minutes.
In a skillet, combine finely-chopped white/red onion, green/red/orange/yellow pepper, some Italian dressing, several pats of butter and some soy sauce. Medium heat (4/10) until reduced onions / browning.
While that’s going toss the asparagus into a large bowl, drizzle with olive oil and salt (or sea salt) and toss.
Into the skillet goes the asparagus. I add lemon pepper, garlic salt and concentrated lemon juice (1-2 tbsp. approx.). You could juice out a lemon, perhaps even slice it and add it in without the seeds.
Meanwhile, microwave some bacon, chop into 1/2 inch pieces, and slide all that bacon and fat into your skillet. I let it run in the med heat skillet (4/10 heat) for 10 or 20 minutes; depends on how you like your asparagus.
THEN, yes, top with Parmesan cheese.
For a variation, grill the asparagus after the olive oil and salt toss for some nice grill marks, then toss in skillet.